Standup Comedy "Your Host and MC"
Celebration of 40+ years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from standup comics... famous, and not so famous. All taped Live on my Comedy Club "Laughs Unlimited" stage. Lots of stand-up comedy and interviews. The interviews will be with comics, old staff members, and Friends from the world of Comedy. Standup Sets by Dana Carvey, Jay Leno, Tom Dreesen, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry Miller, Mark Schiff, Bobcat Goldthwait, Paula Poundstone, Garry Shandling, Ray Ramano, Cathy Ladman, Willie Tyler & Lester, and MORE. My web site has many pictures, items for sale, and more information www.standupcomedyyourhostandmc.com
Standup Comedy "Your Host and MC"
Cathy Ladman "1992 Comedienne of the Year" Interview Show #46
This show features the comedy talents and interview of Cathy Ladman, one of the Best!
The interview goes over her move from the comedy stage to movies and TV, including 9 Tonight Shows and a Tonight Show Anniversary Special....she is that good! Following our chat there is a great comedy set from 1992, the year she was Named "Comedienne for the Year".
Enjoy her story and standup comedy.
Host: R. Scott Edwards
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"20 Questions Answered about Being a Standup Comic"
"Be a Standup Comic...or just look like one"
This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.
SPEAKER_01:Hi, and welcome to this week's show. Before we get started with a great interview and set from a terrific comedian, I just want to remind everybody if you have any comments or requests, you can reach me at laughshistory at gmail.com. That's L-A-U-G-H-S. History at gmail.com. All right, let's get ready for a great show. Ladies and gentlemen, a very, very special day for the podcast we have on the line. One of the funniest comedians in the business. She was a regular at Laughs Unlimited for a few years, but she's been so busy. We'll talk about that. But let's make her feel welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, our star for the day, Kathy Ladman. Yay! Oh, the crowd goes nuts. Yes, we're so excited to have you on the podcast. Thanks so much for doing this.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, absolutely my pleasure.
SPEAKER_01:So just to let everybody know, Kathy Ladman was a star performer, still is a star headliner on the comedy stages and has been for several decades. And back in the uh late 80s, and I don't know the exact date, and into the early 90s, we were lucky enough to have her at the club several times. And then fame took her away from us as she is a very successful actress and entertainer, and we'll get into that for a little bit. But uh it has been about 30 years since we've seen each other, and you sound amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god, it's been 30 years.
SPEAKER_01:Well, if I'm doing the math right, pretty close.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my God. Well, I think you're right. I well, maybe a little less maybe a little less than Paul. I think you're right.
SPEAKER_01:It it's it's it's a little bit less. It's probably 27, 28 years. But you know what's amazing? I saw you on Facebook the other day, and I've been doing some research, and you look amazing. You're you gotta be what 50 now? You look great.
SPEAKER_04:Um I'll be 65 tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01:Tomorrow! Happy birthday! Wow, what great timing! I can't believe 65 though. Yeah, Medicare. Come and get me Medicare, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, I can't believe it. And then I was I was driving home tonight and I saw this like place which is for um like home home assistance for seniors, and it's like, oh my god, I'm I'm really, I mean, I'm like, I am definitely a senior now. I mean, there were some places that consider you a senior after 60 or 62, but now I am absolutely we can't lie about it anymore. No. I mean, I I I never lied anyway, but but there's no there's no I mean, I can get into any movie theater for senior price now.
SPEAKER_01:Well, there are some advantages when it comes to restaurants and movie theaters. They they take care of us old people. But you know what's amazing is Yeah, they got the senior discount m menu or something.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my God. Yeah, you know, I can't believe it. I went I went with my daughter, I went to Yosemite. Um I I must have been there five years, five, six years ago. And we were at this restaurant, and there was a chosen menu and a senior menu, and it was for peop people over sixty over fifty-five, and she and I both ordered off the same menu.
SPEAKER_01:Let's see, there's a benefit. Did you have a good time at Yosemite?
SPEAKER_04:Oh my God, we had such a great time.
SPEAKER_01:I I don't you would not know this, but uh my wife Jill works for the National Park Service and her home park is Yosemite. Oh wow. In fact, she was just she's an intelligence analyst, and she was just there yesterday, as a matter of fact.
SPEAKER_04:And uh wow.
SPEAKER_01:But uh we have we have already gone off track, which is fun, but uh we need to bring it back. So if you guys don't know, Kathy is originally, and you can tell in the voice, from New York City, right?
SPEAKER_04:That's that's correct. Uh Queens, New York.
SPEAKER_01:Queens, New York, born and raised?
SPEAKER_04:Uh yes.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's a whole different experience from uh the California life. How did you like growing up in New York? Was it uh unique or or just you didn't know any different, so you loved it?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I didn't I didn't know any different, and I um I love being a New Yorker. I love I love having grown up in New York. One one thing that I will never know, however, is the thrill of seeing the Manhattan skyline for the first time because I grew up with it and it just became part of the fabric of my life. But it's it's so amazing. Like when I when I go back to New York, which hasn't been since it's been since January now, you know, driving into the city from the airport, it's just so thrilling to see that skyline. And uh I love I love being a New Yorker.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's it's it is a badge that a lot of people wear with honor. I I recently saw a couple interviews of Jerry Seinfeld, who um it was defending uh New York and saying that whatever the governor does, whatever the mayor does, New York will always be New York, and we're not going anywhere. And I thought that was I mean, not only is he a proud New Yorker, but he was he's like fighting for it. I think that's impressive.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Yes, but I think it's impressive too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, did you start your comedy career in New York or did you what got you into comedy?
SPEAKER_04:Um, well, I I wanted to I always loved comedy from when I was like eight years old. I used to um listen to my parents' comedy albums and I was very inspired by one particular album, Nichols and May Examine Doctors. And um I decided consciously at about uh age 13 that I wanted to be a stand-up comic.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's early for that decision, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, but then it took me really another almost 13 years to do it because because I was afraid.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's a tough thing to get into, but once you do, there's the fear and the exhilaration that kind of not only uh forces you to get up there but keeps you up there once you're there. So you didn't do your first, let's say, open mic until you were 26?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I did an open mic when I was like twenty one, but then I did it it didn't stay with me. Uh I did I I and I moved out to Los Angeles because I thought I I thought I would start it out here and I I lasted four months. I didn't go near a comedy club, and then it took me like another four years or so before I um actually started in earnest. I started on uh June 28th, 1981.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Well, I should explain to the audience that I'm not aware of this because when you came to Laughs Unlimited, you were really already an established act. I do you remember your first time in Sacramento?
SPEAKER_04:I can't remember my what my first time, but I can I can't tell you I have my one and only standing ovation at Laughs Unlimited.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we have great audiences here, and I'm not surprised. Yeah. What does surprise me that was your one and only? I mean, you're a very, very funny lady.
SPEAKER_04:Well, thank you. But who knows? Who knows? But uh that was a very thrilling experience for me.
SPEAKER_01:Well, uh, going back to your roots, so you started off kind of uh uh open mic here and there, and then a little bit of uh work in LA. Uh what club did you decide to make your home club? Was it the improv, the store? What did you kind of develop?
SPEAKER_04:Um, well, at the time I was I was living with Steve Middleman. He was my boyfriend and whom I was we were together for three and a half years.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow, he's a funny man too.
SPEAKER_04:He's very funny, and we're still very good friends. He had come out to LA in let me see, it was like it was yeah, it was at 1985, spring of eighty-five. He wanted to come out for pilot season. And I and I decided to join him for a month, and he set up an audition for me at the comedy store since that's where he I guess where he was starting out at in LA. And I passed auditions at the comedy store. So that's that was my first club here, but then I started doing both the improv and the comedy store, and I just did it quietly because there was this rivalry and you know, I just think it's terrible to it tell comics that they can't work one club. No, I mean it just you know Mitzi and Bud, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they would go at it, but it was in the long run, it it the that competition may have uh actually improved the quality of stand-up comedy at the time, but it was also difficult for the entertainers. Like you said, you had to you wanted to work both rooms, and there's there were others in the area, and you at the same time you didn't want to piss off Mitzi. Mitzi was the the most on edge, I think, but uh there was uh a lot of clubs and you you just wanted to make sure. Yeah, but was he Buddh too?
SPEAKER_04:I remember you know, I remember one time Bud was excuse me, I was working um I used to work in Vegas at the comedy store, at the Dunes Hotel, and I never worked the improv in Vegas. At the time, the improv in Vegas was at the Riviera, and you had to do um twenty one shows a week, three shows a night, every every single night. One time I was I was working for Bud in Atlantic City and he was there and we were talking and he said, Yes, but you work the other room, and he was kind of like kind of you know doing a dig at me. And I I said, Hey Bud, I'm just trying to make a living. You know, it's just it's not it they sh I don't think they should use performers to get back at each other like that. No, no, and you know, I just go ahead.
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm just agreeing with you that uh, for example, uh to bring it to to me, Laughs Unlimited was the only club in this part of the state for uh a few years, and I kind of established myself. But then uh John Fox opened up the punchline about oh, I'd say 20 minutes, 30 minutes away from my club. And it's both clubs are still both clubs are still operating, but I took a different approach. Instead of competing, I would call up the booker and say, look, this is who I have coming in. Uh I want to make sure we don't step on each other's dates. And we actually worked cooperatively to make sure. Yeah, we wanted to make sure that if if you were if Slayton was working over there, I wasn't gonna bring him in early and trying to kill their excitement for the act. And and we never had a combative situation, but that I'm sure that's somewhat unique.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and I mean look, when you when you start to work clubs like in uh like Vegas or those kind of those kind of cities, they would they would say that you couldn't work another room with uh and it was it was a certain period of time, it was like a three-month period of time or something, and that's understandable because they didn't want you to dilute the business from the week that you had at their club, you know, they they just wanted to keep it kind of separate, and that that's understandable.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that's what we did a two or three month break between acts, and we were able to share acts like Will Durst and Bobby Slayton using that kind of format. But it was also interesting that each club kind of had its own pool of entertainers. There were people that worked for me that never worked for the punchline, and vice versa. So it it goes a lot of different ways. But you got a good start at the store. Mitzi is certainly somebody that can make a star out of somebody. I know that you went on to do a lot of TV, and I'm still jumping ahead because really when we started booking you, you were already, and this is only four or five years after this work at the comedy store, so you were already an established headliner. I don't remember featuring you. I think you came in as a headliner.
SPEAKER_04:I started headlining, I mean, look, this is the 80s, so you could really move up if if you had if you had, you know, the time and the material, right? You could move up pretty quickly because there were so many places to work. Um, I first headlined in Canada, it was my very first headlining gig in um Winnipeg. And I actually got a nice bit out of that about my my my central Canadian bit I got from that gig. That was in 19 yeah, that was 1986. And then and that was scary. I remember that first time. Oh my god, I was gonna have to like be on stage for 45 minutes and and um and then I just started headlining around the country. And you know, I mean I I don't get I I mean I mean it's been ages since I've had that kind of stage time that I used to get when I was working the road. Um, I was doing like twenty twenty to twenty-five shows a month.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it and it is different. And once you reach a certain level as an entertainer, when you're on the road, which is a different beast from television and and other things, uh you have you know, a qualified headliner should be doing 45 minutes minimum, except for Benny Johnston, who I did 37 minutes and 50 seconds every night. Uh but I mean most headliners, and then some would, you know, we had Jay Leno do an hour and a half and Dana Carvey do an hour 10, you know. It just depends. But it is true that when you get to showcase clubs like the store, the improv, where there's not there's so many acts, it was a big deal to get a 20-minute set. I mean, other than Robin Williams, I don't know anybody that could go up on stage and do as much time as they wanted ever.
SPEAKER_04:No, not it not in town, but when I used to open for Jay in the um I guess it was the mid the mid eighties, I would open for Jay and on the road and um which were great gigs because his audiences are fantastic. And he initially he was doing two hours and twenty minutes. Wow. Which was insane, and then he cut it back to an hour and a half.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, he he is just a uh comedy machine when it comes to stand-up. In fact, uh he still loves getting out and and doing long sets and he has the material for it. And I can totally understand that you enjoyed opening for him because, like Jay, you're um very talented monologist, but clean as well. And I think the two of you would be uh a terrific team on stage.
SPEAKER_04:Uh you know, kind of a copacetic relationship. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a that's a better term, complimentary to each other.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Um, not co not not that we would pay each other compliments, it didn't run a complimentary. No, that was although we did pay each other compliments. But um, but I remember this one time I was opening for Jay south of Chicago, and it was such it was like Labor Day weekend or something, and there was such horrible traffic. I was stuck in traffic. I ended up getting to the theater like like 15 minutes or 20 minutes before I was supposed to get on stage, and I was and I was, you know, I was grimy from traveling, and I tried to take I was I had a shower in my dressing room and I was and I opened the shower curtain. I'm in I'm in a towel and I'm getting ready and I'm and I opened the shower curtain and there's like no handle to turn on the water. And it was just like a like a stem, like a pipe stem sticking out, and I'm like going around backstage saying, Does anyone have a needle in a nose fire? And and of course nobody had anything. And so I ended up just going on stage like dirty from and just putting on my stage clothes, and I had one of the best shows I ever had because my defenses were so down, I just, you know, I not everything was going my way, and I just had a roll with it, and it was just such a great audience, my God.
SPEAKER_01:Well, just for that. And I think that that goes to the art form uh of comedy is that uh a lot of times it is affected by the atmosphere or the situation that's going on and how you use that really uh makes or breaks your comedy show. And it sounds like in this situation, going through all that anxiety and stress just to get to the stage, that when you got to the stage, it went, okay, here we go. You know.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yes, I know how to do this. I know how to do this.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's so great. It was well, we were really lucky to have you uh work for us, as I said, met uh several times. It was uh 8990 and into about 92 or 3. Then you just took off uh with acting, which I want to ask you about. But before we get to that, uh the times that you were at Laughs Unlimited, I don't know what you recall. I gotta tell you that you are one of the favorites for my staff. I know that uh Jill and Lynn said that uh you guys all went to a movie together and saw Sister Act, and they uh they used to sit and and wait for certain bits on your uh set. Jill particularly remembers you having kind of a mockery bit about uh you unfolding a roadmap, by the way.
SPEAKER_04:Anybody Oh yes, my my father, my father um it it had to do with the way to torture my father, um, that um you would fold a roadmap in front of him, you would fold a roadmap incorrectly. And it's so funny that you bring that up because um I'll I'll tell you about this if if we get to this, that I'm I'm in the middle of rehearsing a solo show that I'm gonna be doing, which I was supposed to be doing actually now in New York. That I actually tell that bit in the show because I'm talking about my father in the show, and I use that to illustrate what he's like. Well your material that's one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, your material though came from you. It wasn't uh uh like uh Seinfeld's very observational. His his comments, his comedy comes from everyday stuff, but then there's other entertainers, and it and you fall into this category where you're taking life's experiences. You took uh a situation where, by the way, those of you that are under 30, uh paper map was something you had to fold and unfold to see where you're going before GPS. And uh and it was a nightmare to try to refold those, but to do it just to torture your father. Also, I guess he was uh had some uh patience problem with the microwave.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, that's right. He was well, he was he was very he was an accountant, he was very anal retentive, as I say in that bit. And he would um stand in front of a microwave and go, Come on, it's been 10 seconds. I don't have one minute.
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's it's so funny because these technologies, which everybody, you know, everybody listening to this podcast thinks of, well, we've had microwaves and GPS forever. But if you go back enough years, there were no you know, it was paper maps and and no microwaves. And when they came along, it was a big deal, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yes. I mean, I remember having to pull over to to check some a map for directions, you know. Yeah, you know, it was a very different. I mean, we were talking I was talking to my husband about like having my first cell phone and I had 20 minutes a month. That was my plan. 20 minutes a month, and it was so expensive. It was so expensive. And then when I would get, you know, if I had to be on the phone, it was like, oh come on, hurry up, hurry up, and you're gonna give up the phone. I don't have to.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you want to hear crazy. I was I had the I had the club when cell phones came out, and I actually had a phone installed in my car, and this was before cell phones were cell phones, it was a Motorola actual phone. You'd open up the glove, uh, the glove box, and it would be like a handle phone. It was the most expensive thing, and the unit took up most of my trunk.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, I'm I'm sure. But it was fun. Do you remember the size of those huge, huge phones that they used to have? Ugh, it is one movie, and I can't even remember it is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they were they were actually bigger than the handle on the old style dial phone. They were huge.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, it was like it was like the size of a brick. I mean, it was really huge.
SPEAKER_01:Uh well, that was uh uh anybody uh under 40 probably wouldn't remember those.
SPEAKER_04:But uh I know we're gonna get a lot of these, but yeah, there's gonna be a lot of these.
SPEAKER_01:Since we're both celebrating 65 and your birthday tomorrow, we've got to talk about this stuff. So one other thing that was brought up by the girls, and and I want to apologize. I remember you being a very funny uh act and loved working with you, but I don't have the memory of particular bits. Lynn commented.
SPEAKER_04:Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01:Lynn commented that you used to do an amazing impression of Rhoda Morganstern. I did. Yeah, she said that you did a bit um from the Mary Tyler Moore show of Rhoda, and you would do a short impression that she still remembers.
SPEAKER_04:I don't remember doing that at all. Hey, Maya. Hey, Maya. That's all I could think about that. I I I don't I don't remember that. Uh we'll I don't remember doing that.
SPEAKER_01:We'll have to see if we can dig up a copy in the archives. But that's funny that the individual bits that people remember that from comics that came through the clubs. Now, going on memory, do you remember working with anybody fun or doing anything special while at last unlimited?
SPEAKER_04:I'm so yes, I'm so glad you brought that up because my favorite person to work with was my dear, dear friend Dave Anderson, who's no longer with us.
SPEAKER_01:Wonderful man.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god. And I remember one time, the last night of one week when we worked there playing Pictionary, and we all were laughing so hard. I had never played it before, and it was so fun. And oh God, wasn't he the best?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, he was amazing, not only a funny guy on stage, but just a terrific man off stage. We used to do a lot of uh away from the club activities with Dave, and uh we were all sorry to lose him, but uh uh we have we have the memories, and that's what's important, and he was a great guy. But I'm glad that you remember working with him and playing Pictionary at our club. That's great.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, I remembered. I mean, when I when I think of Last Unlimited, I think of Dave.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, that's that's a good way to go.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And do you remember anybody else I worked with there?
SPEAKER_01:Well, because you were a headliner, we would mix up the featured and opening acts. Uh uh, some of the guys I've interviewed started off as opening acts or middle acts, and so they got a chance to work with stars, future stars. You were already a star. But let's let's take it to the next level because what was interesting and different than some of the other people I've had a chance to interview is you were a really talented and successful road comic, which is tough for anybody, but especially a comedian. And I know that uh the whole male-female thing people can get uh riled up about, but being a female headliner and being on the road is got to be one of the toughest jobs, and you were able to quickly get away from that, and you've done something like 11 movies.
SPEAKER_04:Oh God, I have.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's that's what uh that's what they say. You've you've made appearances in about 11 movies, so you went into acting. Oh wow. What I was gonna ask is how did you transition from being a top-of-the-line uh comedian? By the way, when I say top of the line, Kathy Ladman was female stand-up of the year in 1992, people. We're talking top, top of the line. You are a great entertainer, and getting the stand-up comedian of the year is no small feat. So congratulations.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you so much. I mean, that was that was an excit that was exciting. I remember that night too. Joan Rivers handed me my award. It was really exciting.
SPEAKER_01:But it's good to get acknowledged. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yeah, absolutely. So how did I transition? Well, you know, it's interesting. I I I always wanted to try my hand at acting, but it was so much work for me to be to be had on the road that I didn't stay in town long enough to take advantage of it. It it used to be that there was a it was a definite pilot season. I mean, this is back before there were so many different channels, you know, on TV.
SPEAKER_01:And now they produce year-round, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's really year-round. I mean, there it there still is a pilot season, but but that's just for network and there's there is stuff that that goes on year-round. But but back in the 80s, in the 90s even, you know, it was a a specific pilot season, and I started getting home like in 88, 89, and I started doing pretty well. And I got a pilot in 89, it didn't go anywhere, and I I did a few different pilots that didn't go anywhere. But that's the name of the game. And the first pilot that I did was the terrible, terrible trick. And I was in it with George Clooney, who was another one of the series regulars, and other people that I'm still friends, Steven Kowalowski, who's a very um successful character actor that you I'm sure if you saw his face, you would know him from tons of films. You know who he was? He was in um Groundhog Day, he was the guy dead.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, right. I know him, and he's done a lot of movies.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, tons of movies, and and TV shows as well. Yeah. So he and I are still friends, and this other woman, Phyllis Lyons, she and I are still friends. Um, DD Resher, she and I were in that together. So, I mean, that's a that's a long time ago. And um, and then in subsequent years I got to do other pilots as well, and and I just loved action. It was really, really it's a whole different skill set.
SPEAKER_01:It seemed like you took to it naturally. Uh, one of my favorites was that you were in the movie My Fellow Americans. And that's one that not a movie that is considered, you know, the top probably not even the top 50 funny movies, but it's one of my favorites. And but you did many walk-ons on many movies. Um I just think to be able to transition from the stand-up stage to television to movies must have been exciting.
SPEAKER_04:It was one of one of the most thrilling things that I was able to experience was, you know, Mike Nichols and Elaine May were my were my heroes when I was growing up, and I got to do two Mike Nichols films. Wow. Amazing. Yeah, and I even got to do a bit with him. I I I got to do one of his bits with him. You know, we have Elaine May, Mike Nichols bit with him while I was on the set of one of the movies, and it's it was like crazy, crazy exciting.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that is so cool. See, that's an experience nobody can top. So we I kind of skipped over television and I didn't mean to, but the movies are really exciting. But on TV, I mean, you were on an HBO special, you did like nine tonight shows. That's got to be near a record.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I wanted to ask you No, nowhere near a record.
SPEAKER_04:Nowhere near a record. There are people who've done 30, 40, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, still, nine's pretty damn good, Kathy. You did great.
SPEAKER_04:It is good. It is good.
SPEAKER_01:But you were also a regular on the Craig Ferguson show. Was curious what it was like working with him.
SPEAKER_04:He I I always really loved him. I thought he was a real unique talent and could go off script easily, could really speak from his heart and from the top of his mind. And um I was always very impressed with him. And one of the mu the most exciting things that I did on his show was in fact it was Maybe it was the last time I did this show. I decided that I would I I I've been developing this show that I'm finally in rehearsal for right now. For years. I mean, I I've been on and what was the show, and it's about my eating disorder. And I did a check on the show about being anorexic. And it was really a an an amazing it was a life-changing experience to be able to talk about that on national television and then to sit down and talk with him about addiction because he's an alcoholic.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Well, drugs and alcohol. He did it all. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I respect and like about Craig is that, and I've read his book. I don't know him uh uh personally, of course, but I've read his book and I've watched his shows, and I thought it was always interesting how he was a dual personality. In one minute, he could be a total wack-a-doodle comic and it'd be as funny as anything. And the next minute he's sincere, he's serious, and uh, for example, in his book, his his love for this country and his patriotism, it's such an interesting balance for somebody that's on TV every night to have that uh in their back pocket to be able to go both ways.
SPEAKER_04:Right, right. It's true. Um was that was his book called American on Purpose?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I I have it.
SPEAKER_04:Or might think of it.
SPEAKER_01:It's on my bookcase about 20 feet from me, but I I can't see it.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:But it was a good book if you're if you can't see it. If you want to get pick up his book, it's a really good read, and he's an interesting man. How many Ferguson shows did you do?
SPEAKER_04:I think I did five, I think.
SPEAKER_01:So nine tonight shows.
SPEAKER_04:Five Ferguson shows. And Peter was the producer on the um tonight show. That's where I met Peter. And there were such great people working into it. I mean, I I have to say I really miss those days of doing late-not TV. I really do. And I never got to do Letterman, and I really re I really regret that. I wish I had had that opportunity.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you did a great job being on the Tonight Show and the Ferguson show, especially uh if you were asked to do the tonight show. You were a part of the big anniversary show.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. I got to do a couple of those. I was on a couple of those.
SPEAKER_01:That's a real uh honor to be invited back for those because they don't just pick anybody.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. Definitely. That was a that was a huge honor. Huge honor.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And well, you're funny. That makes a difference too.
SPEAKER_04:It does make a difference.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, you're a nice gal, but you're funny.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, you you know what what I remember, which is which is so sobering to remember this. Um the first time I did the tonight show with Johnny Carson. I went I went over to the couch after I did my set. And it was it was it must have been 1989 because he said to me, he asked me, he says, You're very funny. He said, Um, how long have you been doing this? And I said, eight long years. I thought that was a long time back then.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and really for somebody to And now it's been 39 years now. Oh, it's uh it you've had an amazing career, but to realize that eight years, because the first eight, you know, the first eight are the hard ones. After that, it gets easy. It's uh no, it doesn't. I know, I know, I'm joking. Now you did also a lot of walk-ons. I mean, modern family, several shows, uh uh crime shows, courtroom shows. You did a lot of TV work uh in and around the movies. So you were ended up being a very busy actress in the sense of of doing all these spots. Uh do you miss did you miss doing more stand-up, or did the stand-up really set you up for the TV shows? Did you enjoy those more?
SPEAKER_04:Um I I I mean, I really liked both, but I I tell you, I I got tired of doing the road. Because, you know, I never made it to the point in my career where I was filling rooms. And that that is hard after a while. You want you want to perform for people who want to come to see you. And I never got to that point because I left the road and I was doing more more acting at that point.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. And and and I think that's kind of what happened with laughs because we always had full crowds. Uh, but we weren't we didn't use you in any uh of the big concerts we did, not because you weren't funny, but because you did transition and you were spending more time in LA doing TV and movies. But I'm sure that the money you made and the fact that you didn't have to be on the road had a lot of benefits.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, definitely. And then there's also, you know, if you made enough money in the union, then you got health insurance, which is a big deal. And as a c as a comic doing the road, you you didn't have any of that.
SPEAKER_01:You didn't have that opportunity. Yeah, no, that's that's really important, especially as you get older and start having a family and kids and doing things, having the health insurance is important. So you've had this amazing career. Any uh funny stories or anything that stands out you'd like to share with our podcast audience? Am I throwing you under the bus here?
SPEAKER_04:I mean, as far as like um on the oh well, you know, something that did happen that was I don't I don't know if I was married to my husband at the time. Were we married at the time when we Sacramento? We were we I don't know if we were already married. I don't think we were. I would say not the nasty original, nasty old family.
SPEAKER_01:Like a good husband.
SPEAKER_04:He had to finish the dick that I was in the middle of doing. And I would and then he went on and confused and I would do the physical stuff and he did all the the work.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god, the audience was so into it and they just loved it. They just loved it. That was a special show because that's kind of like you can't plan anything like that.
SPEAKER_01:No, and and I would have been at the downtown club, so I didn't witness it, but that sounds like an amazing situation where under duress, in a situation you can't control, you have a live audience, it goes to the old show bizom. The show must go on, and here's somebody that knows your act. Well, I'll just do your act for you.
SPEAKER_04:Right. I mean, it was it was really I mean, I I literally couldn't put two words together without coughing.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you tell Tom I appreciate it, and thank you very much. The show went on.
SPEAKER_04:Scott says he appreciates it.
SPEAKER_01:So that's exciting. Well, that's a great story. Thank you so much for sharing that.
SPEAKER_04:Sure. Well, tell you what, we can't think of any yes.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, no, no, that's fine. We've uh learned a little bit more about you. Uh most importantly, I wanted to hear how comedy came to your life and how you were able to have such a successful career over almost four decades. Uh, not to age you. You like I said, you look amazing. Who would know?
SPEAKER_04:No, it's fine. But with I mean, I'm 65. It's not aging me. I'm just I still remain 65.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you've had all those successful years live on stage. You're working on a new show that'll come out next year live on stage. Is that gonna still open in New York, you think, or LA?
SPEAKER_04:It depends. I mean, if theaters if theaters are gonna be opening, then I'm going to be doing it before I do it in New York. I probably would do it here, but it it all depends. I'm supposed to do it in a festival.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. What's the name of the show, Kathy?
SPEAKER_04:It's called Does This Show Make Me Look Fat.
SPEAKER_01:That's the title? Does this show make me look fat? Yes. That's a great title, especially if the subject's anorexia. That's hilarious.
SPEAKER_05:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Um I think people will get that and laugh just seeing the title. Well, that's genius.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like a thank you so much. And you know, the show is not all it's not obviously not all funny because it's a serious subject, but it's a you know, it's really, you know, genuine, authentic, from the heart stories about my life and how I got there and how I how I became, you know, anti-recovery.
SPEAKER_01:But the but the I think what's gonna make it uh warm is that with your personality and your creative writing talents, you're gonna be able to come across on a serious subject in a in a fashion that makes it entertaining as well. You know, you're gonna be able to mix Well, thank you, Scott. Well, I just I just know you and I know your act. And speaking of that, thank you. No coughing allowed, I have queued up a terrific set that we're gonna share of you from 1992. And we're gonna let the audience hear your entertainment. But I wanted to say thanks for doing the podcast, thanks for doing the interview. It's been terrific catching up, and again, uh, thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Stay here.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm sure the podcast audience enjoyed uh your stories and your history in a terrific art form like stand-up and comedy and be able to transition, which many people try and not many people succeed at. Going from the stand-up stage to TV to movies and building the career you have, including, you know, female stand-up comic of the year. I mean, you've had so many accolades, well deserved, and we appreciate uh your years you worked at last.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. Thank you, Scott. That's very sweet. It makes me feel great. Thanks a lot.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Well, ladies and gentlemen, here's coming up a really terrific comedy set from the star of our interview. Let's all hear it from Kathy Ladman. Thanks, Kathy, for doing the interview.
SPEAKER_04:My pleasure. Thanks, Scott.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're a great audience. Wow, we ooh, wow. Oh, you're great. Wow. Yeah, you're great. Wow, very nice for us. A lot of couples here tonight. Nice. Real happy for you. I'm not married. Get the whole band. Go ahead, guess. Hey, this is not an auction, okay? 35.
SPEAKER_05:35.
SPEAKER_02:I'm 35. I'm not married. I give up. Really? It was just my cousin's wedding. I caught the bouquet. I just took it home and repotted it. I'm getting old! Yes. You know you're getting old. When you're more attractive, hanging upside down. Maybe one day I'll need a nice bat. People were all getting old together. That's the comforting thing. Everybody's getting old. My dad's getting old. He's 71. I can't believe it. He's still very handsome. But his eyebrows are going crazy. What are those guys and their eyebrows? Oh, he looks like a mass scientist. Here he goes to sleep. He wakes up. Ooh, Dad. Did you take a nap or did you invent something? And my mom's getting old. She's 68. She's so nervous she gasps at everything. What's that? What's that? It's air, mom. If you inhale slowly, it won't hurt you. She is nervous. You should see her drive a car. She's a menace to society. Oh, look at us! I think we're moving. She's one of these really cautious drivers. She's too cautious. You know, when my mother's driving on a road and the sign says the road curves to the left, she signals that way. Just to let us know she's going there. Not into the brick wall ahead of us. So then my father yells at her, get away, let me get behind the wheel. Oh god, my father drives so slowly. You know, when deer see my father's car approaching, they linger. Watch the cops stop my father. Oh, sorry, Rob's. To do what? Simulate time-lapse photography? And they can sleep at night. These people can sleep at night. I can't believe it. I can't sleep. I have such insomnia and a nightmare last night. A terrible dream. I'm trying my parents came to vision me. That's it. Oh god. Oh god. My parents, they're like poltergeists. We're back! What is this? I had to see them recently. I went back to New York. I was there for a family reunion. Ugh. I hate those things. You know, I walk in there, I look at everyone, I think, ugh, I'm getting my tubes tied. That's it. The tree ends here. It was my cousin's way. Now I'm not married. Like I told you, I'm not married. I tell you a lot, I'm not married. So it's my cousin's way. She hires the worst band in the Western Hemisphere. I mean, there are centuries and centuries of beautiful music. These guys have to play the hokey pokey. Oh my god. I believe it's the hokey pokey. Do you know the song? You put your ass foot in, you put your outfit out. Gee, what a haunting melody. You put your outfit in and you take it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. I mean, can you imagine if that's what it was really all about? I mean you walk on your whole life. You die, you go to heaven, you check in. You mean it was just a hokey pokey the whole time? Did all I should do is this? I could have called him this. So anybody's there at this wedding. My mother's there. A typical Jewish mother. One time my mother was on jewelry duty, they sent her home. She insisted she was guilty. And it's not just because she's Jewish either, because all religions are the same. A religion is basically guilt with different holidays. Hi, I feel so guilty. Well let me. I love foods. You know what my favorite food is? Pegs. Those little cartoon characters with tracheomy. So anyway, so my mother's there. You know, my mother has to talk to me like every damn second. I don't know why. You know, see my mother's way of talking sometimes when she wants to be inconspicuous, you know, she doesn't want anyone around us to hear her.
SPEAKER_03:She talks out of the sort of. She thinks nobody notices her. She goes, girls, girls, this is a man fine. This is a man for us. Gee, I hope he's a speech therapist.
SPEAKER_02:And my dad! My dad, my dad is a CPA, and like every CPA I know, he's the most fastidious, meticulous, anal, retentive person. He is so impatient. You know, my father's the kind of guy who stands in front of a microwave and goes, come on! It's been 10 seconds! I don't have all minutes. Really, if you ever meet my dad and you want to torture him, and you will. This is what you do. You time him against the wall like this, with his arms and left like this, make him stare straight ahead, and then right in front of him, you refold a roadmap incorrectly. He just switches a little bit and then he passes down. It's fun to watch, it is. Oh, he's got big problems. The man is insane. He's old. When I was a teenager, he was so crouchy and cheap. You know, he used to come home from work. I'm a troll. Give me that junk bill. They don't want money for me. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. Hey! Every light in this house is burning! Don't give me that. It's nighttime excuse! You can fail all the walls like other families. Hey, you get off the phone! The phone, the phone, the phone was always the worst thing. You know, my parents had the same phone for 30 years. That big black rotary desk phone. Cavemen won't even use this phone. And it's so heavy, you can't even lift the receiver to your head. You gotta lean down into the table. And that dial is so stiff, you need a special instrument to dial with a seventh digit. I always miss dial. I won't speak to anybody ever again! God, I was 13 years old. That phone was my only link with humanity. Oh, I needed to speak to a friend. I would just sneak over to that phone. My father's already standing behind me like a vulture. Keep it breathed, keep it breathed. Keep it breathed. And our phone bills could not have been more minuscule. I swear, if Alexander Grenville had seen our phone bill, he would have said, there's no money in this.
SPEAKER_01:Well, ladies and gentlemen, Kathy Ladman live on stage. There's nothing like it. I'm sure you can see why she was picked the female stand-up comic of the year in 1992. And that set was from 1992, so uh relevant. And she's celebrating her birthday tomorrow. So uh wish her a birthday wish out there, and uh thanks for listening to this podcast. We know you had a good time. We'll see you next week with another new show. Bye.
SPEAKER_00:We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC. For information on the show, merchandise, and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhost and mc.com. Look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near you.
